Month: June 2020

Wasteland 3‘s third dev diary is here, and it’s focused in on the consequences of player choice. The video below delves into how player choices will impact the world of Wasteland 3, and what kind of role-playing is possible.

InXile Entertainment studio head Brian Fargo says that reactivity is “the hallmark of a great roleplaying game,” and that a lot of work has been put into making sure that the reactions of the word are “telegraphed”–so you know that events that play out are a direct result of your actions, minor and major.

An example is shown of a scene where you can steal a gun from a poor couple–the gun is going unused, as it has sentimental value to them, but it could be very useful to the player. As Fargo points out, “most players won’t do it”–but the option is there, if you don’t mind being evil in-game.

You can shoot anyone you want throughout the game, and Fargo talks about the challenges of making sure that they can still tell a cohesive story while allowing for this. It involves writing a lot of content that “most players won’t see,” but he says it’s worth it knowing that the world really reacts to the player’s actions.

The previous two Wasteland 3 dev diaries focused on character creation and plot, and they’re both worth a watch if you’re interested in the game. The game’s development has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a slight delay.

Wasteland 3 releases August 28 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

Marvel Studios won’t have to wait much longer until Daredevil can rejoin the MCU. Via Screen Rant, the fan campaign known as Save Daredevil has calculated that only six months remain until the rights to Daredevil transfer from Netflix back to Marvel.

Due to the nature of the contract between Netflix and Marvel, the latter isn’t able to use characters like Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones until two years after the cancellation of their respective shows. Netflix canceled Daredevil in late November 2018, meaning Marvel will regain the rights to the character in November 2020.

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As Screen Rant points out, Marvel will have also reacquired the rights to Luke Cage and Iron Fist at that point, as both shows were canceled in October 2018. The rights to Jessica Jones and The Punisher will follow in February 2021, with Netflix having canceled its final two Marvel series in February 2019. In less than a year, all five franchises will be back in the Marvel fold.

The question now is when and how Marvel intends to utilize these characters. Will they continue the canceled Netflix shows on a Disney-owned streaming service like Hulu or Disney+? Or will they recast the roles and reboot this particular corner of the MCU? As it is, the connective tissue between the Netflix shows and the MCU movies was limited, to the point where we argued fans should stop pretending the two are connected at all.

Fans were briefly given hope that Daredevil star Charlie Cox might reprise the role in the upcoming third Spider-Man movie. Unfortunately, Cox shot down that rumor, telling ComicBook.com “I hadn’t heard those rumors, but it’s certainly not with my Daredevil. I’m not involved in it.”

Only time will tell how these characters will be integrated (or reintegrated) into the MCU. For now, Marvel has big plans for other live-action superhero series on Disney+, including Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel. And unlike the Netflix shows, these Disney+ series will be closely intertwined with the MCU movies.

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Let us know in the comments below what you hope to see from Daredevil’s MCU future.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Developer Slightly Mad is back in the driver’s seat after surprise announcing Project Cars 3, the next game in its popular racing simulator series. Project Cars became popular with racing aficionados thanks to the high level of detail in the first two Project Cars game.

However, with the new sim, Slightly Mad is working to expand beyond the sandbox with a fleshed-out career mode.

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Speaking with GamesRadar, Project Cars 3 production director Pete Morrish says that alongside its highly customizable sandbox, which includes different cars, tracks, and weather conditions that can be mixed-and-matched, there’s also a new career mode designed to help more casual fans.

According to Morrish there’s “a whole metagame, and a whole career system to really support newcomers to the franchise, and those that are maybe further down the continuum towards more casual, more ‘pick up and play’ people, than the usual sim-head crowd.”

The career mode will allow new players to explore a progression system designed to introduce them to different skills, tracks, and cars, and rewards players equally for progressing. Regardless of whether a player sticks with a specific discipline, or tries to become a jack of all trades.

Alongside the new Career Mode, Project Cars 3 will bring back community events where players can compete in daily, weekly, and monthly challenges for additional bonuses and progression. “[Project Cars 3] wants you to get good. It wants you to enjoy racing and discover what we love about it. And that’s what we’re ultimately trying to share,” Morrish says.

Project Cars 3 will be available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC later this summer. Read IGN’s review of Project Cars 2 here.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

The CW is reportedly looking to replace Kate Kane with an entirely new character for Batwoman Season 2 after Ruby Rose’s shock departure from the lead role.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the show has opted to find a new identity for Batwoman rather than recast Rose’s role of Kate Kane, a cousin of Bruce Wayne, following the circulation of a leaked casting call in a Batwoman Reddit forum.

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Decider picked up on the since-deleted callout searching for an actor to portray the new character, identified in the listing as “Ryan Wilder” (though it is not clear whether this is a placeholder name), a woman in her mid-20s who “is about to become Batwoman.”

“She’s likeable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the batsuit before her,” the notice reads, per the outlet.

“With no one in her life to keep her on track, Ryan spent years as a drug-runner, dodging the GCPD and masking her pain with bad habits,” it continues. “A girl who would steal milk for an alley cat could also kill you with her bare hands, Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero.”

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Warner Bros. and The CW previously confirmed that they would recast the role of Batwoman with another LGBTQ actor for the already commissioned second season, which is moving forward without Rose after she announced she would be hanging up the cape and cowl.

Rose has not confirmed the exact reason for her sudden exit from the series, though some reports have suggested that friction arose on set after Rose became unhappy with the long hours required for the lead role on the 20-episode season.

Our review of Batwoman’s first season finale was full of praise, so hopefully, the right person will be found in order to propel the show into a great second season.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

New details have been revealed about Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Expansion Pass, including the release date of the first content pack, the Isle of Armor, which will launch on June 17.

The Pokemon Company has revealed a new trailer for the entire Expansion Pass, giving us a better look at the new features coming to the game with the two DLC packs, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra.

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Aside from the release date, we were also introduced to two new Pokemon from the Regi family – Regieleki (electric-type) and Regidrago (dragon-type). We were also introduced to Galarian Slowbro, a poison/psychic type with a new move, Shell Side Arm, which is unique to this form. We also learned more about the Galarian forms of the original legendary birds that we were introduced to earlier this year: Galarian Articuno is psychic/flying, Galarian Zapdos is fighting/flying, and Galrian Moltres is dark/flying.

The Isle of Armor will bring Gigantimax forms of all three final evolution starter Pokemon – Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon, adding powerful new G-Max moves to their skillset. You can check out the new Gigantamax Forms in our Pokemon Sword and Shield Wiki. The Isle of Armor will also add in Pokemon that did not appear in the main game, such as Azurill and Chansey. A series of new Pokemon will also be brought to the game across the Expansion Pass, including new legendaries such as Kubfu, Urshifu and Calyrex.

You can check out a huge set of new screenshots from the Expansion Pass in the gallery below:

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We’re still yet to learn about the release date for The Crown Tundra, the frosty second expansion pack which was revealed back in January.

The expansion pass marks a new step for the Pokemon franchise – which has previously preferred to release new versions of the same game, or semi-sequels. We think this is a very good next step. We awarded Pokemon Sword and Shield a 9.3 review, and since named it one of the best Nintendo Switch games.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Simon Pegg has shared an update on how the Mission: Impossible 7 team is aiming to get back into production by September, several months after filming was halted due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Speaking to Variety, Pegg, who plays tech expert Benji Dunn in the franchise, confirmed that a September restart is currently “the plan” for the Christopher McQuarrie-directed movie. “That will begin with the outdoor stuff,” he revealed. “That feels fairly doable, and obviously there will be precautions put in place.”

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Pegg noted that the large-scale shoot would likely present some challenges along the way, as he suggested that logistics would need to be figured out for shooting certain scenes, especially when the action moves indoors. He jokingly remarked that fight scenes would need to be shot “five feet apart.”

“People that are involved in any close proximity stuff, it will have to be determined that they’re safe to do that,” he explained to the outlet. “I don’t know what the testing situation is, how that works, or whether they’ll be able to be tested regularly.”

First assistant director Tommy Gormley further addressed the complexities of shooting the film’s “stunt scenes” and “crowd scenes” in a separate interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today show, though he also displayed confidence in the production picking up in September and running right the way through to April/May next year.

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“This is our challenge,” he said. “We are not a chamber piece movie. We do spectacle, and that is what people expect of us. If we have the protocols in place and we break down all the procedures very carefully… we will get it going again.

“We hope to visit all the countries we planned to and look to do a big chunk of it back in the UK on the backlot and in the studio,” he added. “So September through to end April/May is our targets. We are convinced we can do this.”

The cast and crew of Mission: Impossible 7 were apparently poised to shoot a major sequence in Italy when that country went into lockdown and production on the Tom Cruise-led film shut down indefinitely. This setback in the shooting schedule reportedly forced Nicholas Hoult to drop out of the production altogether.

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Amid these shifts and delays in production, Paramount Pictures pushed back the release of Mission: Impossible 7 from July 23, 2021, to November 19, 2021. Mission: Impossible 8, previously scheduled for wide release on August 5, 2022, has also now been pushed to November 4, 2022.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

A set of palm-sized Game Gear Micro consoles have been revealed as part of SEGA’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

The Game Gear Micro is currently only available to preorder in Japan and will launch on October 6th. At time of writing, there has been no news of a Western release for the device.

The console has a one-inch screen, and will arrive in four colour schemes, each with a different set of four games preloaded (full list below).

「#ゲームギアミクロ」10月6日発売決定！

セガのカラー携帯ハードがミニを超えるミクロサイズに。
4色のカラーにそれぞれ異なる４タイトルを収録。
4色同時購入で特典「ビッグウィンドーミクロ」も登場！https://t.co/hXC36mF1qh#GOSEGA　#SEGA60th pic.twitter.com/0ZzPDygbwW

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) June 3, 2020

The fun-sized device will offer a headphone jack, charge via USB and use two AAA batteries for power. Sega is currently offering a promotion where, if you buy all four variants of the Game Gear Micro, you will receive a special Big Window accessory that magnifies the screen while you play. The console will retail in Japan for 4,980 yen, which roughly equates to £40 or $50.

You can check out the games preloaded on each colour of micro console below:

Black

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Puyo Puyo 2
• Out Run
• Royal Stone

Blue

• Sonic & Tails
• Gunstar Heroes
• Sylvan Tale
• Baku Baku Animal

Yellow

• Shining Force 1
• Shining Force 2
• Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict
•  Nazo Puyo: Arle no Roux

Red

• Revelations: The Demon Slayer
• Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special
• The G.G. Shinobi
• Columns

As for the rest of Sega’s 60th-anniversary celebrations, the company has launched an anniversary website which offers a timeline of its history in games. We reviewed the SEGA Genesis Mini last year, calling it “as close to perfect as any retro all-in-one mini console has come so far.”

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

The Cyberpunk 2077 news broadcast, Night City Wire has been delayed to June 25.

Originally scheduled for June 11, developer CD Projekt Red explained that the move was due to the current protests and outcry following the death of George Floyd. “More important discussions are happening right now”, reads the statement, “and we want them to be heard. We wholeheartedly stand against racism, intolerance and violence. Black Lives Matter.”

We decided to move Night City Wire to Jun 25th. We still look forward to sharing new information about CP’77, but more important discussions are happening right now and we want them to be heard. We wholeheartedly stand against racism, intolerance and violence. Black Lives Matter.

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) June 2, 2020

CD Projekt Red joins Sony’s PS5 event and IGN Expo in delaying events due to current circumstances.

Night City Wire is part of IGN’s Summer of Gaming.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter.

A few more free Pokemon are up for grabs for Sword and Shield. Players who transfer a monster from either title to Pokemon Home will be able to claim the three Galar starters: Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble. What makes these particular Pokemon special is that they each have their Hidden Abilities, which up until now have not been available in Sword and Shield.

Grookey’s Hidden Ability is Grassy Surge, which sets up Grassy Terrain as soon as the Pokemon enters the field. Scorbunny’s is Libero; this changes the Pokemon’s type to match whatever move it is using. Finally, Sobble’s Hidden Ability is Sniper, which increases the amount of damage critical hits inflict.

To claim these starters, you’ll first need to transfer a Pokemon from Sword or Shield to Pokemon Home on Nintendo Switch. Once you’ve done that, log into the mobile version of Pokemon Home and do the following:

• Select the Menu button at the bottom of the screen
• Select Mystery Gift
• Select Gift Box
• Tap on each Pokemon in the Gift Box and select Receive

You don’t need to have a Pokemon Home subscription in order to take advantage of this offer, but some of the service’s features–such as the ability to trade Pokemon or view their base stats–are locked behind a premium plan, which costs $3 USD for one month, $5 USD for three months, and $16 USD for one year. You can learn more in our breakdown of Pokemon Home free and premium plan features.

These aren’t the only free Pokemon available right now. Sword and Shield players can also claim a free Galarian Ponyta with its Hidden Ability until June 4. The Pokemon Company will be giving away a few more free monsters in the lead up to Isle of Armor‘s launch, including a Galarian Corsola and Galarian Meowth.

As for Isle of Armor, we recently learned the DLC expansion will release on June 17. The Pokemon Company shared a load of other new details about it, including new story tidbits, additional tutor moves, and more.